A prosecution witness and operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Bukar Mustapha Kirri, on Monday narrated before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, how a Chinese national, Zhengjia Jin, allegedly defrauded his employer, Golden Diamond Industrial Manufacturing Company Limited, of several hundreds of millions of naira through kickbacks, inflated invoices, and diversion of company funds.
Kirri, an Assistant Superintendent with the Commission and the sixth prosecution witness (PW6) while being led in evidence by the EFCC counsel Chioma Chineye told the court that the EFCC received a petition dated August 12, 2024, from one Frank Inibie, who wrote on behalf of Golden Diamond, accusing the defendant and another staff member of monumental fraud within the company amounting to over ₦700 million.
According to him, the petitioners alleged that the first defendant colluded with vendors to divert payments meant for the company into his personal and third-party accounts. Acting on the petition, the Commission invited the complainants, while the defendant and other implicated staff were handed over for investigation.
“Upon receipt of the petition, we commenced investigation and wrote a letter of investigation activity to Access Bank requesting the defendant’s account details,” Kirri said.
“The analysis of the account from July to August 12, 2024, showed a turnover of ₦466 million. We discovered that most of the inflows came from vendors dealing with Golden Diamond.”
He further told the court that letters were sent to the depositors’ banks, and several vendors were invited for questioning.
“When they came, we asked why they sent such monies with narrations like kickbacks and cash back. They explained that the defendant demanded these payments in exchange for business patronage,” Kirri testified.
The EFCC operative mentioned one Abdul Wahab, who paid over ₦56 million into the defendant’s Access Bank account, indicating that the payments were kickbacks. “He said the defendant threatened to disengage his company if he refused to comply,” Kirri added.
The witness added that another vendor, GTC Global, also confirmed to the EFCC that payments made to Jin were kickbacks.
“Further investigations revealed that the defendant used part of the proceeds for personal and third-party transactions. “We traced about ₦24 million transferred to a company known as Linda-African Pride, and ₦2 million sent to one Hassan Oladimeji, allegedly to help the defendant track a man named Abubakar Adamu, who had absconded with ₦39 million belonging to him,” Kirri said.
The witness also revealed that some vendors were instructed by the defendant to pay directly to Adamu on his orders. “he noted.
Kirri added that documents submitted by the petitioners included fake invoices and corporate filings later confirmed by the Corporate Affairs Commission to belong to non-existent companies. Some of the third-party accounts linked to the transactions, he said, belonged to Jin’s girlfriend and another associate, Emmanuel Ubu, both of whom are still at large alongside Adamu.
Meanwhile, the defence counsel , Chief Emefo Etudo objected to the admissibility of certain documents tendered by the prosecution, arguing that there were “mitigations” that allegedly corrupted the entire bundle of evidence sorted to be admitted into evidence by the defence counsel.
In his ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled the objection, noting that the second leg of the defence’s argument was also admitted in evidence. The judge then ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness and authenticity of the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, as raised in the objection by the defence counsel.
Earlier in the proceedings, a businessman, Yomibi Shofolahan, who identified to be doing business with Golden Diamond, also testified before the court.
Shofolahan told Justice Oshodi that he was introduced to the defendant as the new procurement officer of the company and that all his business dealings were handled through Jin.
He recounted how payment delays became frequent during Jin’s tenure, forcing vendors to protest at the company’s premises.
He said: “Under the company’s policy, payments are to be made two weeks after delivery.
However, at a point, we waited up to five months. We then renegotiated prices per ton for late payments instead of ₦12,500. But when the defendant eventually raised our payment schedule, it was incomplete.”
Shofolahan said he confronted Jin, who claimed he would pay the remaining balance personally.
“He later paid the balance from his personal account,” the witness added.
However, according to Shofolahan, Jin soon demanded that he pay him a “kickback” from the transaction. “He contacted me via WhatsApp, threatening to send security operatives against me if I refused,” he told the court.
“On June 27, 2024, he even sent a picture of a soldier attached to the company with a message asking if I would transfer the money or not.”
The businessman stated that he had worked with three procurement officers before Jin and none had ever demanded kickbacks.
Under cross-examination by Chief Etudo, the defence counsel, he explained that kickbacks were synonymous with bribes. He further noted that although the company sometimes owed vendors for months, all legitimate payments were made strictly for goods supplied based on invoices.
The Chinese national, Zhengjia Jin, was arraigned by the EFCC on three count charges bordering on retention of stolen property, acceptance of kickbacks, bribery in the private sector, and stealing, contrary to the relevant sections of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and 2015.
According to the charge sheet, Jin, while employed by Golden Diamond Industrial Manufacturing Company Limited, dishonestly retained and accepted into his Access Bank account the sum of ₦301 million, alleged to be proceeds of kickbacks from vendors between March 5 and August 9, 2024, thereby acting contrary to his company’s conditions of service.
The prosecution has so far called six witnesses in the matter.
The matter has been adjourned till November 11,2025 for trail within trial.
